Wednesday, March 20, 2013

When Love Conquers the World


There is a time when we no longer need to fight; God fights for us as we serenely consider Jesus. His love had full abandon, in that it was taken to the cross; a consummate sacrifice for his Father.
That day God conquered the world in the name of Love.
It is our opportunity, within the scope of our relationships, to exemplify and attest to this love, replicating its holy advance in ways that completely disarms people in the safest of ways. What love initiates, love completes. Love seals the deal.
When love conquers the world everyone’s a winner. Love cannot be suppressed. Love is both enigmatic and charismatic, having the power of God to speak truth into people’s lives in the most caring and trustworthy of ways.
When love conquers the world it has shown itself as love. It has become a paragon of fitness for life, because when we are fit to partake in the activity of life we take on the attributes of love.
When love conquers the world it proves consistent with its entire past and future, for it, in the character of God, is unique in its unchangeable nature.
When love conquers the world it convinces the world of its veracity; its power to bring anything to life that aligns with love in truth.
We know when we know it, because life begins to make sense without so much as a thought.
The Invisible and Unknown Power of Love
Many people who should know don’t truly know this power that has been vested in them. I lived like that for 13 years. But when the Lord truly won my heart—truly, truly—I was a changed man to love. None of this is our doing. All of it is of God. This is why love is invisible and unknown—until it becomes visible and known.
The character of such love is surrender and sacrifice and serenity.
It is surrender because nothing is ‘personal’ any more. We may detect being hurt but it doesn’t feel like we are hurt. It is sacrifice because we take the action to give ourselves over to God and to the other person’s stead—without second thought. And it is serenity because we know, that, being in the lap of God’s will, we are pleasing to God and there is nothing better.
All of this, it has to be said, is conditional on a thriving relationship with God. We may backslide at any time.
We are won to love or we are not. Surrender, sacrifice, and serenity are the key indicators. It cannot be love without these three.
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Love conquers the world when surrender, sacrifice, and serenity characterise a person. Nothing can stand before love and not be either transformed or defeated. Love is both enigmatic and charismatic in the best of ways. Love is the power of God known to life.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

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